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Darkstorm
Lord of the High Valley! King of the Bleaklands! Great Pundah of the Cracked Lands! (Briefly) Mayor of New Valarak! Major share holder of other undisclosed locations! King of the Cliffs! Baron of the Bogmarsh! Escaped criminal! The grand lord Darkstorm is all these things and more! A man who is, by his own admission, evil, Darkstorm is a master manipulator with a thirst for power on the ruined world of Prysmos, and will use any means to get it, including magic. Is it any wonder then that Merklynn gave him the totem of the Mollusk and the power of Decay? Fiction ---- 'Animated Series' :Voice actor: Chris Latta After the fall of technology, Darkstorm rose up to rule a small kingdom in the new dark age. He unsuccessfully led his forces in an attack against the forces of New Valarak. An unspecified amount of time later, Darkstorm was auditioning new non-technological devices from his subjugated inventors when Merklynn appeared and announced his quest for magic. Darkstorm was unimpressed by the idea and had Merklynn thrown down a trapdoor. Upon learning that Leoric was intending to take the quest, Darkstorm set reconsider the offer and set out to Iron Mountain. Accompanied by Mortdred and Reekon, Darkstorm made good progress through the mountain, hindering others such as Arzon as he went. Eventually though, Darkstorm was separated from the others and managed to fall down an oubliette. Bracing his back and legs against the sides, he managed to crawl his way out. Looking for his minions, Darkstorm happened across Cravex, Cindarr, Virulina and Lexor strung up in a dungeon. He freed them in exchange for their loyalty. He quickly put this to the test by ordering his group to attack Leoric and his allies. The fight was interrupted by Merklynn, who gave bespoke magic powers to each knight present. Darkstorm received the totem of the Mollusk for his climbing prowess, while his staff was imbued with the power of Decay. Upon being thrown out of Merklynn's lair, Darkstorm broke up a fight between the newly empowered knights and pronounced a truce between both sides, but quickly revealed to his allies that he had no intention of keeping his word. Darkstorm quickly began a campaign to individually eliminate the Visionaries not aligned to him. This started with an ambush on Arzon, successfully capturing the knight. Realising he would need more raw materials to make shackles, Darkstorm sent Mortdred and Reekon to a scrapyard to find iron. They instead returned through his war room window with a magically powered vehicle, the Sky Claw. Darkstorm's pleasure at the discovery was quickly tempered when he discovered he was unable to activate the machine himself, making him reliant on Mortdred and the unscrupulous Reekon. The campaign continued, quickly capturing Witterquick and Cryotek, thanks to the addition of the Dagger Assault. The capture of Cryotek saw the knight Galadria escape, so Darkstorm ordered his lackey Virulina to chase her. When she proved unsuccessful, Darkstorm berated and belittled her, only laughing when she stormed off. Darkstorm turned his attention to his old enemy of New Valarak and laid siege to the city. Rather than lead an army, he simply took along his remaining Darkling Lords and new vehicles. After his demands of surrender were dismissed, Darkstorm stormed the city, tearing through its defences with Cindarr's power of Destruction. Although the knights of Valarak resisted, Darkstorm's forces were able to subdue and capture them. As punishment for insolence, Darkstorm removed Feryl's animal totem using the Dagger Assault's magical dungeon. He then addressed his new citizens, explaining that as long as they were mindlessly loyal to him, he wouldn't use his power of Decay to leave them all old and infirm. After a demonstration, the smallfolk fell in line. 'Star Comic Series' When the Age of Magic began, Darkstorm quickly built up a power base and his own domain. This was achieved at least partially through forcing people into slavery. When Merklynn appeared across Prysmos to challenge its citizens to reach the secret chamber in Iron Mountain in exchange for great magic, Darkstorm reasoned that he must take the quest in case his enemy, Leoric of New Valarak, did so too. Along with his lackeys Reekon and Mortdred, Darkstorm made swift progress into the mountain. The group went out of their way to disadvantage the other questers, including cutting down a rope bridge that Arzon was about to cross. After being separated from his men, Darkstorm ended up in a pit that he had to climb out of. He then found a large vat of spider's milk that he used to trap Cindarr, Lexor and Cravex, helping to free them only in exchange for fealty. Upon reaching the secret chamber, Darkstorm initiated an ambush against Leoric, Ectar and Feryl, but the fight was stopped by Merklynn. Upon reaching the wizard's chamber, Darkstorm was given the totem of the Mollusk and his staff imbued with the power of Decay. After being ejected from Merklynn's lair, Darkstorm watched his troops attack the other Visionaries. When the battle was stopped by Leoric, Darkstorm refused the offer of a truce and, having recruited Virulina, returned to his domain. There, he talked of the need to have a new weapon that would tip the balance of power in his favour. He was pleased to find this when Mortdred brought him the Sky Claw vehicle. Darkstorm's careful planning to use the Sky Claw was ruined when Mortdred took off on his own with the vehicle to attack the Spectral Knights, forcing Darkstorm to commit the Darkling Lords into battle. During this, Darkstorm was severely injured, forcing his troops to retreat. As punishment for his idiocy, Darkstorm had Mortdred thrown into the dungeon. . Upon learning that the Spectral Knights had found an ancient doomsday weapon, Darkstorm was determined to obtain the device for his own use. However, his attempts were thwarted by the Spectral Knights and his own Decay power, which hit a key support beam of the weapon. When the Darkling Lords were summoned to Iron Mountain by Merklynn to quest for four talismans, Darkstorm silently schemed to take the items for himself. 'Storybooks' Darkstorm announced his final mission of boldly annexing Merklynn's shrine atop Iron Mountain and using its power to rule all of Prysmos. His Darkling Lord lackeys dismissed these plans as a joke, believing Merklynn could never be defeated. Darkstorm immediately silenced their derisive laughter with the threat of his Decay staff. Darkstorm and the Lords were later en route to the mountain when the Spectral Knights' sudden intervention caused him to panic. He was aided by Cindarr's Destruction power that delayed the Knights' progress and opened a secret entrance into the mountain. Darkstorm praised Cindarr's genius as he trailed his charges inside. While trekking through a cave, Darkstorm and the Lords were intercepted by a horde of giant spiders, against whom their weapons were ineffective. When Leoric and the Spectral Knights arrived, Darkstorm had no choice but to combine forces in order to drive off the spiders. He then promptly turned on his enemies and was on the precipice of victory after his Decay staff weakened the Knights and rotted away their armor. However, after Merklynn intervened by restoring the Knights to full strength, Darkstorm and his forces were ultimately defeated and forced to flee the mountain. Toys ---- *'Darkstorm' (1987) **''Accessories:'' Twin-bladed hand axe, helmet, power staff of Decay : Toy description 'Merchandise' ---- To be added 'Notes' ---- *Darkstorm's power staff is the only one shown to have two functions, as it is able to reverse its decay effect. This even comes with another activation verse: "Power of rot, obscuring truth, what once was old, restore to youth." *Although Darkstorm claims to be evil, he's not by any means an irredeemably ruthless tyrant. He's relatively fair to his underlings, giving those he feels are deserving good rewards when he stumbles upon near omnipotent power. He's not a slave to his desire to defeat the Spectral Knights either, walking away from, or even teaming up with, his adversaries on more than one occasion. And he even pays for expensive food instead of just stealing it. What a guy. 'Production' * As with all the 1987 figures, Darkstorm was initially intended to come with a smaller Power Staff, featuring a hologram the same size as, and interchangeable with, his chest hologram. This can be seen in some early advertisements for the line. The change to the larger size for release resulted in a complete change in image for the hologram and design for the staff. *The unused small hologram depicts a skull, a rather more on the nose bit of imagery for the power of Decay. 'References' Category:Visionaries Category:Darkling Lords Category:Characters